Thailand to replace coastal guns with long-range missiles

The Royal Thai Navy's (RTN's) Coastal Defence Command is replacing a number of the service's coastal guns with long-range missiles and is currently reviewing several options.

According to a senior RTN official who was speaking at the Coastal Surveillance conference held on 1-2 December in Kuala Lumpur, the replacements are being sought in light of advances in naval weapons technology that put a number of important infrastructures on Thailand's eastern seaboard at risk.

"As a result, the RTN intends to replace our coastal guns [with] long-range missiles that have better range and [are] more accurate", said Captain Panuwat Samakgarn, Deputy Director of the RTN's Combatant Capability Planning and Development Division.